Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Friday that schools in the city will remain closed till July 31. The decision was made after a meeting with state education officials, who emphasized the safety of children, due to the rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the city. 

The Delhi government also issued a statement regarding the possibilities of skimming the syllabus by up to 50 percent with officials suggesting the continuation of online classes and activities with the help of children's parents. Mr. Sisodia said, "Let's design a plan to reopen schools in a way that would prepare our students to adjust to the new circumstances and not fear them. It would help our students to learn to live with coronavirus,".

Officials during the discussion told Mr Sisodia to permit classes for Class 9 and 10 to function in small groups once or twice a week. Some others suggested that classes for Class 10 students must be held everyday. An unanimous decision was reached upon the opening of online libraries in schools wherever possible. 

Earlier, suggestions from parents were invited by the Delhi government regarding the reopening of schools in the city after the 'Unlock1' guidelines were announced by the Centre this month. The government in its statement said, "One of the suggestions in the meeting was that primary classes should be held once or twice in a week with a strength of 12-15 students in a class. Another point was made that classes can be conducted on alternate days for students of classes 3 to 5,".

Safety measures to be implemented in schools would include the regular sanitisation of classrooms, masks being provided to students and thermal scanning at the school gates among several others. Officials also took note of students of Class 6 to 8 and recommended that classes could be held either once or thrice a week. Whereas, recommendations for Class 11 and 12 stated that students could come to school on alternate days followed by online classes on the rest of the days.

Delhi recorded 3,390 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the city's total to 73,780 people being affected by the infectious virus. There were 64 deaths recorded over the past 24 hours with the death toll rising to 2,249 in the national capital, as per the latest government data.